SuSE Linux 6.1

This is a serious, high-performance distribution which is more complete than practically any single distribution, and at the same time is clean and fast due to effective configuration and intelligent design.

Hailing from Nuremberg, Germany, SuSE Linux 6.1 is SuSE's
latest release (SuSE Linux 6.2 will be available by the time you
read this) featuring the new 2.2 kernel, custom SuSE software,
commercial packages (Netscape, StarOffice with personal license,
Applixware Office, Corel WordPerfect 8.0 and many others), five
CD-ROMs' (and a disk's) worth of software, a 440-page manual and a
green chameleon sticker. This is a serious, high-performance
distribution which is more complete than practically any single
distribution, and at the same time is clean and fast due to
effective configuration and intelligent design. Much attention has
been paid to the details in this release (as in past releases), and
the production gains a lot from SuSE custom software and
configuration. Although SuSE is the top Linux distribution in
Europe, and the 1998 Linux Journal Readers'
Choice for “Best Distribution”, it has not been particularly
successful in the U.S. The reason for this is not clear (perhaps
someone in marketing knows), but if word gets out about this
distribution, the situation is likely to change.

YaST

Yet another Setup Tool is SuSE's software for installation,
de-installation and maintenance. Once a system is installed, YaST
stays around to help with many configuration tasks, and updates
system files accordingly. (For example, if you want to change
networking configuration, YaST asks what changes you want and
automatically updates all files.) YaST is also the tool that
installs the whole system in the first place.

Installation of SuSE is quite easy and extremely flexible,
although not entirely automated—SuSE begins with a default (base)
package and allows you to modify package selection to suit your
needs. You can also load a few pre-configured selections (with the
usual server, workstation, and complete installation options),
though one ought to customize even these configurations. It is
easiest just to have three or four pre-configured installations (as
with Caldera), but SuSE probably has a number of reasons for taking
the custom installation approach. For one thing, SuSE is more
complete than most other distributions (five CD-ROMs is a lot of
software, and the new 6.2 apparently has six) and customization
makes more sense when dealing with so much software. Also, SuSE
does not aim to be “Linux for Idiots” and would lose much of its
flexibility were it dumbed down for people who can't decide what
software they want.

One benefit of SuSE's devotion to custom installation is that
SuSE has developed a system which incorporates many packages into
the menuing system of KDE. In addition, YaST knows what
dependencies the packages (numbering about 1000 for 6.1 and 1300
for the brand-new 6.2) have, and can
automatically install these dependencies. YaST
keeps track of redundancies to warn a user against installing
software packages that are too similar or would be unused. Also,
YaST has good descriptions of the software packages, so you always
know what you're going to get (well, except for the occasional !!
HIER FEHLT DAS LABEL !!). In these areas, SuSE is unique. For
example, Red Hat offers far fewer packages and mostly does not
incorporate selected programs into menuing systems. Caldera also
offers fewer packages, and while it effectively incorporates
programs into KDE, it offers four installation packages and no
custom option. However, Caldera's installation program, Lizard, is
probably the easiest.

Installation can take place in over a dozen languages
(English is second on this list). Before installation begins, you
have to load any special drivers you might need. Secretly, I wish
SuSE would autoprobe, and in fact there is an automatic detection
for necessary modules which actually works, but you have to find it
first. Once the modules are taken care of, proper installation can
begin.

Ultimately, installation is straightforward and easy to
navigate, but, like Red Hat, often requires you to know what
hardware you have. I would prefer more probing and perhaps more
complete default installations (I had to select so many packages,
it took a while), but there were no technical hang-ups, freezes or
crashes. Manual configuration of networking was just like most
distributions, and the system was booted and on-line fairly
quickly.

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